Starting Date: 27-May-2012 ((date when the selected candidate is expected to start)

Duration of Initial Contract: 1 year (renewable)

Expected Duration of

Assignment: 1 year (renewable)

Background

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, the UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.

Under the guidance of the UN Women Representative to Kyrgyzstan, the Operations Manager acts as an advisor to Senior Management on all aspects of Country Office (CO) management and operations. This includes strategic financial and human resources management, efficient procurement and logistical services, ICT and common services consistent with UN/UN Women rules and regulations. The main role is to lead operations, ensuring smooth functioning of the CO/programmes/ projects operations, consistent service delivery and constant evaluation and readjustment of operations to take into account changes in the operating environment as and when needed.

The Operations Manager leads and guides the CO Operations Team and fosters collaboration within the team, with programme staff and with other UN Agencies with a client-oriented approach. The Operations Manager works in close collaboration with programme and project teams in the CO and EECA SRO, operations staff in other UN Agencies, UN Women HQs staff and Government officials to successfully deliver operations services.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:

Ensuring strategic direction of operations;

Financial resources management and supervision of the Finance team;

Human resources management and supervision of the HR team;

Efficient procurement and logistical services and supervision of the Procurement team;

Information and communication management and supervision of ICT team;

Common services organization and management, establishment of partnerships with other UN Agencies;

Focal Point for security issues.

As a member of the CO management team, ensures the strategic direction of operations focusing on achievement of the following results:

Full compliance of operations with UN/UN Women rules, regulations and policies, implementation of corporate operational strategies, establishment of management targets (BSC) and monitoring of achievement of results;

Constant monitoring and analysis of the operating environment, timely readjustment of operations, advice on legal considerations and risk assessment;

Knowledge building and sharing with regards to management and operations in the CO, organization of operations staff training, synthesis of lessons learnt/best practices, and sound contribution to UN knowledge networks and communities of practice.

Ensures effective and accurate financial resources management and supervision of the Finance team focusing on achievement of the following results:

Proper planning, expenditure tracking and audit of financial resources, including extra-budgetary income in accordance with UN Women rules and regulations;

Performance of Manager Level 1 role in Atlas for voucher and treasury transaction approval;

Organization and oversight of CO cash management processes, including liquidity management, recommendation of imprest level, risk assessment, timely accounting and reconciliation of all transactions, security for cash assets on site;

Monitoring of financial exception reports for unusual activities, transactions and investigation of anomalies or unusual transactions. Provision of information to supervisors and other UN Women staff at HQ of the results of the investigation when satisfactory answers are not obtained.

Ensures strategic human resources management and supervision of the HR team focusing on achievement of the following results:

CO compliance with corporate human resources policies and strategies;

Optimal staffing of the office and projects;

Oversight of recruitment processes in accordance with UN Women rules and regulations, appropriate use of different contractual modalities, contracts management;

Establishment and maintenance of the proper performance management and staff development systems;

Implementation of the Universal Access strategy on learning ensuring access of the staff to role appropriate learning activities.

Ensures provision of efficient procurement and logistical services and supervision of the Procurement team focusing on achievement of the following results:

CO compliance with corporate rules and regulations in the field and elaboration of the CO procurement strategies including sourcing strategy, supplier selection and evaluation, quality management, customer relationship management, e-procurement promotion and introduction, performance measurement;

Elaboration of the CO contract strategy including tendering processes and evaluation, managing the contract and contractor, legal implications. Oversight of procurement processes and logistical services in accordance with UN Women rules and regulations, OM acting as Manager Level 1 in Atlas for Purchase orders approvals;

Ability to lead business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change.

Management and Leadership

Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;

Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;

Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;

Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;

Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;

Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master's Degree or equivalent in Business Administration, Public Administration, Finance, Economics or related field.

Experience:

At least 5 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services and/or managing staff and operational systems and establishing inter-relationships among international organization and national governments;

Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.

Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Russian.

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women's empowerment.

All online applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from

Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.